


Hanahaki Disease- jarrich

by neonnleon



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: Character Death, Hanahaki Disease, Heartbreak, M/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:07:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29572962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neonnleon/pseuds/neonnleon
Summary: Hanahaki Disease: a (fictional) disease which sprouts from unrequited love. The fallen victims have to suffer through an unrequited love- which will then prompt the ill to start coughing up flower petals, and full flowers. This will continue until either the feeling is returned, the victim loses feeling, or eventually the victim suffocates due to the growth of flowers. What will Jared do when this happens to him?
Relationships: Jared Dunn/Richard Hendricks
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Hanahaki Disease- jarrich

**Author's Note:**

> hello!!! hope you enjoy this quickie I drop as I try to finally catch up on my other stories- I apologize for my absence :( schools been crazy! 
> 
> Also, trigger warning for major character death! With that, enjoy reading.

Jared has always had his eyes on Richard, but Richard was always too busy in his work to ever pay attention to try to feel the same. Even thought they were once so close, things have gotten a bit “distanced” per say, ever since they finally got the big office space. Still, Jared tries to win over Richard’s affections. 

* * *

Pied Piper Offices, 2018

Richard had just returned from his Congress speech, and Jared was just as excited as ever to see him, so he waited out front for his taxi. 

“Oh, Richard!” Jared yelled excitedly, as Richard smiled and waved to him. “Oh, hey Jared!” Richard smiled as Jared was thinking about leaning in for a hug, but remembered how Richard wasn’t a very affectionate person. “So.... I’m glad you’re back safe Richard! Always nice to see you... heh. Uh, do you need help, or anything? You know I’m always here to help out, I’ll do anything for you!”, Richard looked at Jared with a bit of a worried stare, as Jared was talking out of pure desperation to be closer to Richard, even for just a moment. “Uh, no, but thank you anyway. I gotta get inside, come see everyone, you know how it is.” Richard smiled and left Jared there. “D...damnit. I really thought I could connect with Richard when he came back. Well... maybe inside!” Jared remained hopeful, all he wanted was to connect to Richard and maybe “spark” something again. He took a deep breath and walked inside, he’s never seen this big of a crowd before. They were all cheering for Richard and everyone was giving him positive praise, Jared wished he could do that still. He remembered when everyone was working in the hostel together. Jared felt the closest to Richard there, always staring at him. The attention was always on him, Richard’s was anyway. They were so connected, Jared felt as if maybe then the feeling _was_ mutual. But now, he isn’t so sure. 

“Hey Jared! I’ve been looking for you. Do you have a moment? I know it’s quite chaotic, but might as well get it over with now.”, it was Tracy, HR. She was very kind, but Jared was unsure what “ _get it over with now”_ meant. He smiled and said, “Sure, what’s up?”. Tracy nodded for him to follow her, and so he did. “So, I know this might be sudden, but we’ve decided to move your office so it would be more “accessible” to the people who need you, yeah? I know you were close to Richard before, Jared, but this just might work out better for you!” She smiled as Jared felt his face fall flat. “Er.. _what?”_ Jared was starting to shut down inside, be away from _Richard_? “Well, I know this may not be ideal... but it will really work for us! All the way back here is your new space! Closest to the people who you can provide help to most. I’ll leave you to look, and then you can return to the party!” Tracy waved to Jared as she walked back into the crowd. Jared looked around defeated.

* * *

Jared’s Condo, 2019

”Yeah, get closer to Richard. I really thought I could, haha.”. Jared looked at himself in the mirror of his bathroom, he looked sick. Lately, he had been waking up in the middle of the night and having extreme coughing fits, which isn’t usual for Jared. He’s an extremely healthy man. “When will this end?” he said out loud, holding onto his sink as the coughs got fuller and fuller, and soon it started to feel like he was coughing something up. He could barely even speak as suddenly, he felt something coming up from his throat, and he coughed something up into the sink, which sent him into a shock. “What?...” he walked over to the light switch and flipped it on, turning back to the sink. “What the f..” Jared couldn’t even finish his sentence as he looked down at the sink. He had coughed up... flower petals? “What? How did I... how is this..”. In the sink sat 3 white flower petals, which Jared somehow coughed up. He stood there in shock, how in hell could anyone possibly cough up flowers? Jared looked around his bathroom, no flowers in sight, but his throat somehow felt clearer. His thoughts were blurry, though. _How could someone just cough up something like this_? “Maybe I ate wrong... but no, they do have edible flowers and I don’t remember ever eating those? This is... maybe I should call a doctor.”, he ran his hands through his hair and went back to his bed to search for his phone. He picked it up and looked at the time, “12:48”. While it was midnight, Jared was desperate for answers and honestly thought he was dreaming, so he resorted to one of those 24/7 help lines. He sighed and put the phone up to his ear and let it ring until someone finally picked up. “Hello, how may I help you this evening?”, Jared signed and finally spoke. “I know this is going to sound crazy, but I... I have been having some coughing fits lately and now I seem to be coughing up flower petals.”, there was silence on the other end. “I’m sorry, _flower petals?”_ , “Yep.”. The assistant started laughing, “Look, I’m sure you just ate flowers or something, maybe by accident who knows and you couldn’t down them. It’s completely normal. Now call us back if you have a _real_ medical issue, _please_.”. Jared sat down in his bed, once again defeated. What caused something so crazy like this to occur?

The next morning, Jared got up bright and early to head into work and once again feel defeated by one-sided love. Since Jared was still at the back of the office space, he only ever really saw Dinesh and sometimes Gilfoyle. “So, Dinesh? What’s Richard been up to today?” Jared had just caught Dinesh running through. “The usual, I think. Not sure, he’s been freaking out a bit though..” Jared saw this as an opportunity to strike. “Oh! Maybe I could help him?”, and before Dinesh could even respond Jared was gone and determined to finally connect to Richard again. Jared ran his way up to Richard’s office and burst open the door, “Hey, Richard?! Dinesh said you were freaking out so I thought I would stop by and help, haha..”! Jared hoped that finally he could do something to connect the two- just to be disappointed by the sight of Richard already having been aided by Holden. “Oh- hey.. Jared. Sorry, I would’ve called you but Holden seemed to be available first, haha!”. Holden smiled at Jared with a sinister feeling. Jared tried to start a sentence of acceptance, but suddenly started having a coughing fit again. He covered his mouth as he felt something coming out of his lungs again. “Oh. Are you okay Jared?!” Richard got up, while Jared tried to signal that he was okay and ran out of Richard’s office, to the nearest restroom. He ran into the men’s room and immediately starting coughing up flower petal after flower petal, this time it totaled up to 6, sitting plainly in the sink. “Oh sh...Jesus.”, Jared looked down at the sink frazzled. When would this end?

“I just, I don’t know Dinesh. What should I do?”. Dinesh looked at Jared with a puzzled expression. “I- I honestly don’t know Jared. This isn’t made up in your mind or anything?”, Jared sighed, “surprisingly, no.”. “Hm. I’m stumped, I’m sorry Jared. Maybe you’re growing flowers inside of you, or something? Haha...” Jared laughed back as Dinesh awkwardly waved his way out. Little did Dinesh know, he was able to just kind of, foreshadow the future. “Okay, Mr.Dunn? We looked at your x-rays and there seems to be some sort of unfamiliar blockage here in your lungs. Now, it isn’t deadly or anything, but it can successfully explain your recent issue with shortness of breath. I don’t think at this moment I can prescribe anything, but just uh.. rest for a couple of days and you should be good as new!”, the doctor spoke to Jared, as he found himself just having more questions than answers. “Great. Thank you, doc. Will take those days of rest, haha.”. Jared walked out of the office and felt himself falling apart more and more everyday. It had been a month since his previous conversation with Dinesh, and the flower situation just worsened and worsened, but at the same time he was letting his love for Richard grow stronger and stronger, as they started to have less and less time together. Jared’s lock-screen was a picture of him and Richard, standing together when they were so, so close. Now, Jared states at Richard from afar, like he’s a long lost lover. The flowers he coughs up have been increasing more and more, Jared had been at at least 13 flower petals now, and occasionally there is some blood on the petals, which is starting to worry Jared. He just wants it all to end, the flowers, everything. Everyday he felt like he was in a constant cycle of yearning for Richard and then proceeding to be in the bathroom vomiting up pretty little petals for 20 minutes. It was so tiring, Jared even had extreme bags under his eyes. Richard always seemed too busy to care, though. While Richard is a nice guy, he seemed to have trapped himself in a wall of work, unable to reach out to Jared. “Yeah, well look Richard.. Jared’s saying all this crazy stuff lately like how he’s been coughing and throwing up flowers with no known cause. Also, he just looks sicker and sicker.” Dinesh spoke to Richard on the phone while Richard was pacing his office. “What.. that doesn’t sound like Jared. Then again, I haven’t even really seen him since he was moved..”, and before Dinesh could even respond, Richard was already on his way to seek out Jared. But Jared wasn’t there. Jared had gone home early, as Tracy had demanded because he looked so sick, like he was slowly dying physically. His breathing just got worse and worse as every day went by, and he was getting less and less sleep.

Lately, Jared was having dreams about him and Richard in what seemed like an alternate timeline where things were better, and they were happy together. It was like their love was real to Jared, but deep down he knew it wasn’t true because just before he could say “I love you”, he woke up in a coughing fit over and over. His health was slowly deteriorating as his lungs were growing flowers unbeknownst to Jared. Somehow, though, during this time Jared was gone, Richard felt himself growing to miss Jared badly, and wanting to be there for him. He was taking a period of reflection during Jared’s absence, and realized how much he had been neglecting their relationship. Perhaps Richard was starting to grow feelings? Sadly, he never figured this out fast enough. Time had passed by constantly and Richard could never figure out his feelings, while Jared’s position worsened and worsened. One day, though, Richard got a life changing text.   
  


> “Richard, I need you to know that I love you. I’ve loved you over and over and over, but my love for you is killing me, and you need to know now. So, this is me telling you that. “

Richard stared down at his phone, wide-eyed. Did Jared really mean this? Did this mean they could finally be together? Richard didn’t want to wait to find out, so he quickly ran out of the office as fast as possible and drove his way up to Jared’s condo. He ran up to his door, out of breath and started knocking hard. “Hello? Jared? Jared it’s me, Richard. I really think we should talk about our...”, the door opened by itself. Richard was confused, but he let himself in and looked around Jared’s living room. It was nice, filled with black and white furniture, very modern and clean. “Very Jared-like, heh..” Richard mumbled to himself. “Jared? Are you here? Are you in he-“, Richard stopped himself in front of Jared’s bedroom. He laid there, looking so peaceful, but also in pain. He laid still. “Jared??” Richard said in a shaky voice as he walked closer to the bed to examine him. Jared was laying on his side, still. He was wearing a purple sweater and some pajama pants. His body was cold. “J..Jared no.. God... JARED?!”, Richard was violently shaking him to no avail. His eyes were closed, and his face white. Richard was holding back tears as he was about to throw up at the same time. He looked around his bedroom, and saw his phone laying beside him. It was open to the messaging app, displaying the message he sent Richard. Right in front of the phone, and closest to Jared sat a very familiar object. 

> _A single rose._


End file.
